Reflections on life: the funny, poignant, serious and quirky

“It’s all very hard, but there’s a lot of collateral beauty along the way.”

This quote is in Adair Lara’s book, “Naked, Drunk, and Writing” (a wonderful book for all you writers out there). She does not take credit for it, saying that she read it somewhere. But I find it a very apt definition of Life. Life is hard, no doubt, but it is accompanied by splendour.

There are a few things that make life, shall we say ~ challenging. But today, after seeing the devastation wrought by Sandy (the name should have been less friendly—something like Satana) I am grateful for what I have.

We had a few hours without electricity, which makes me aware that I was merely inconvenienced. There are people who are in danger and in the dark, and it may take weeks for the situation to reach any kind of remedy.

There is no understanding the ravages of nature—it is not something we can do anything about. We can learn from what has happened—we can prepare—but these things are a fact of life at its hardest.

I saw people going through garbage for food. I saw people lined up waiting to get gas. I saw people surviving with nothing. And I saw people helping people.

I see the media drawing attention to things that may be otherwise undetected. I see celebrities trying to do something to help those afflicted “Rise Up”. I see people who were not touched by the devastation helping people who are.

I really do not know how to end this—so I am going to leave you with a couple more quotes that may in their own tiny way help:

“Life is like an impromptu recipe—you make the best out of what ingredients you have on hand.” ~Laura Kalkadian, from American Cookery: A Novel

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life…It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~ Melody Beattie, author

From what I can see on the news, people are making the best of their situation–people are forming families of neighbours and friends to help them through, and they will Rise Up again. But it is not going to be easy and there will be, right beside the good–the bad and the ugly. People on the whole, will make the best of what they have, will share, and strangers will be turned into friends.

~ AWARDS ~

I will no longer be accepting Awards.
I am honoured to be remembered, nominated and given awards but I will not partake in the Award "ceremonies".
Thank you to all who have given me awards in the past: you make my soul sing.